Israel has killed a number of prime Hezbollah commanders in a collection of focused strikes on the Iran-backed motion’s stronghold in Beirut.
Here’s what we all know concerning the slain commanders.
– Shukr: right-hand man –
A strike on July 30 killed Fuad Shukr, the group’s prime navy commander and certainly one of Israel’s most high-profile targets.
Shukr, who was in his early 60s, performed a key function in cross-border clashes with Israeli forces, in accordance with a supply near Hezbollah.
The 2 sides have traded near-daily hearth throughout the frontier since Hezbollah ally Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 assault on Israel.
Shukr helped discovered Hezbollah throughout Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil conflict and have become a key adviser to its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
Shukr was Hezbollah’s most senior navy commander, and Nasrallah mentioned he had been in day by day contact with him since October.
Israel blamed Shukr for a rocket assault in July on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 kids in a Druze Arab city. Hezbollah has denied duty.
In 2017, the US Treasury provided a $5 million reward for data on Shukr, saying he had “a central function” within the lethal 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.
– Aqil: US bounty –
A strike on September 20 killed Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Pressure, together with 15 different commanders.
In response to Lebanese officers, the assault killed a complete of 55 folks, lots of them civilians.
A supply near Hezbollah described Aqil because the second-in-command within the group’s forces after Shukr.
The Radwan Pressure is Hezbollah’s most formidable offensive unit and its fighters are skilled in cross-border infiltration, a supply near the group advised AFP.
America mentioned Aqil was a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the motion’s highest navy physique.
The US Treasury mentioned he was a “principal member” of the Islamic Jihad Organisation — a Hezbollah-linked group behind the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut that killed 63 folks and an assault on US Marine Corps within the Lebanese capital the identical yr that killed 241 American troopers.
– Kobeissi: missiles knowledgeable –
On September 25, a strike killed Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi, who commanded a number of navy items together with a guided missiles unit.
“Kobeissi was an vital supply of data within the subject of missiles and had shut ties with senior Hezbollah navy leaders,” the Israeli navy mentioned.
Kobeissi joined Hezbollah in 1982 and rose via the ranks of the group’s forces.
One of many items he led was tasked with manning operations in a part of the south of Lebanon, which borders Israel.
– Srur: drone chief –
A strike on September 26 killed Mohammed Srur, the top of Hezbollah’s drone unit since 2020.
Srur studied arithmetic and was amongst quite a few prime advisers despatched by Hezbollah to Yemen to coach the nation’s Huthi rebels, who’re additionally backed by Iran, a supply near Hezbollah mentioned.
He had additionally performed a key function in Hezbollah’s intervention since 2013 in Syria’s civil conflict in assist of President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities.
Hezbollah will maintain a funeral ceremony for Srur on Friday.
Different commanders killed in current strikes embrace Wissam Tawil and Mohammed Naameh Nasser.
